Water & Sanitation Specialist

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is an international partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to water supply and sanitation services. Administered by the World Bank with financial support from several bi- and multi-lateral and private donors, WSP is a decentralized partnership and operates through offices in Africa, East Asia, Latin America and South Asia. A major thrust of the programs is to help its clients prepare for and implement actions towards meeting the water and sanitation (WSS) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In pursuing their mission, WSP staff provides advisory support to projects and policies help identify and disseminate best practices and lessons from experience across countries, assist clients in the implementation of pilot projects to test out new ideas and facilitate informal networks of practitioners and sector stakeholders. Additional information about WSP can be found on the program website (www.wsp.org). WSP is administratively a part of the World Bank's Transport, Water and Information & Communications Technology Department (TWI) in the Sustainable Development Network (SDN) Vice Presidency.

WSP’s  FY11-15 Business Plan is based on a global strategy ‘FY2009-2018: Scaling Up Sustainable Services”, which articulates WSP’s proposed strategic response to identified sector challenges affecting the poor through capacity building, technical assistance and knowledge. The Business Plan identifies six business areas where the program could have the best opportunity to affect large-scale change in sector performance: scaling up rural sanitation and hygiene; creating sustainable services through domestic private sector participation; supporting poor-inclusive WSS sector reform; targeting the urban poor and improving services in small towns; mitigating and adapting WSS delivery to climate change impacts; and delivering WSS services in fragile states. These areas were identified through a process of embedding a results-based framework throughout WSP’s country, regional and global work programs.

WSP seeks to recruit three Water and Sanitation Specialists to be based in D.C. or WSP focus countries.


The duties and responsibilities for the successful candidates will include but not limited to:

• Identify new research, literature, and sources of sanitation information for the web site and newsletter and for sharing with the Global Scaling Up Sanitation team ,  colleagues in the WSP Sanitation and Hygiene GPT, and members of the Global Scaling Up  Rural Sanitation team
• Lead or assist in the writing, publishing, and dissemination of learning materials, field notes, case studies and other documents.
• As directed by the Global Business Area Team leader, mine data sets and conduct statistical analyses to answer specific research or sector questions related to our business area.
• As directed by the Global Business Area Team leader, provide technical and other support, backstopping and quality review as needed to WSP country programs carrying out a scaling up rural sanitation and Domestic Private Sector Participation initiatives.
• Develop a WSP global gender and social inclusion program, in consultation with the regional offices with specific time frames, responsibilities, deliverables and indicators in alignment with and enhancing the WSP Global Strategy and Results Framework, including integration of gender considerations in WSP programming and where required, in Bank operations and TA, for continuous refinement of gender and social inclusion approaches, engaging closely with staff and consultants
• Provide technical support to the Behavior Change Community of Practice (BC CoP), including support the design, data collection, analysis and reporting of a landscape study aimed at identifying and documenting the extent to which the WBG has applied behavior change approaches, and support the Secretariat in structuring and reviewing the content of learning events for quality assurance purposes (e.g., briefing speakers and discussants, reviewing draft presentations, etc.).
• Work with country teams, establish/arrange innovative business partnerships and other collaborative networks that engage international and national level businesses to work with local entrepreneurs to deliver services to the poor, and responsible for the development and effective implementation and supervision of programs and activities within the domestic private sector participation quality assurance and knowledge agenda.
• Monitor the HQ and country budgets and alert TTL to any issues. This will include liaison with the WSP-HQ Resource Management staff; Manage the procurement and processing of consulting contracts.
• Draft internal WSP project documents such as project sheets, mid-term and end of year reviews, budget reports, etc.
• Assist in the development of strategic and work plans, timelines, results frameworks, procurement plans, etc. Prepare briefing materials on sector issues. Coordinate presentations of the project at international events. Coordinate arrangements as needed for meetings such as Annual Global Team Meetings, Teleconferences and Videoconferences, Project Start Up workshops, Brown Bag Lunches, sessions during the World Bank Water Week and Sustainable Development Network Week.


Required:
• Masters level degree in relevant field, such as water and sanitation, social sciences, public health or economics and minimum 5 years of relevant experience.
• Technical expertise in a combination of following areas: rural sanitation; finance; business management; public-private partnerships; infrastructure finance  in developing countries; hygiene behavior change; public health; social marketing; health communications and/or commercial marketing (with focus on category-level promotion) and familiarity with a ra nge behavior change approaches and frameworks drawing from social and private sectors;
• Relevant experience on project management, especially on procurement and budget monitoring ;
• Highly organized and the ability to manage multiple tasks and a complicated work program.
• Precision, attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines.
• Strong conceptual and research/analytical skills with the ability to think strategically and rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources into conclusion and recommendations.  Capability to compile data and conduct statistical analyses.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and proven ability to write reports, articles and research guides.
• Ability to work effectively in a team, with sensitivity to a multicultural environment and shared responsibilities.
• Ability to work independently with initiative and a positive attitude.
• Strong Power Point, Excel and MS Word skills, SPSS or STATA a plus.
• Proven organizational skills.
• Willingness and ability to go on international missions for up to 25% of time/year
• Experience working and living in a developing country context is desirable.
• Advanced verbal and written language skills in Spanish and/or French will be an added advantage.

COMPETENCIES: Shown below are the competencies linked to this job broadly; however, this particular position emphasizes the water supply and sanitation elements.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Integrative Skills - Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
• Water Policy, Strategy and Institutions - Familiarity with water policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Water Supply and Sanitation Infrastructure and Technologies - Direct experience with water supply and sanitation infrastructure and technologies.
• Client Orientation - Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
• Drive for Results - Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization to do so.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background.  Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.  All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

122534

Water & Sanitation Specialist

Water and Sanitation

Professional & Technical

GF

Washington, DC

8-Nov-2012